Book Description

The Social Work Psychoanalyst's Casebook begins with an interview with Dr. Sanville, who reflects on her evolution as a social work analyst, theoretician, writer, teacher, and leader. These reminiscences are followed by accounts of nine analytic treatments, each of which offers an unusual window into what actually transpired between analyst and analysand during the treatment hours. These case studies concern particularly troubled, often traumatized patients-the very "hard to reach" or "difficult to treat" clients with whom social workers have long been familiar. They include a reanalysis by the same analyst of a patient whose first therapy ended in a stalemate; an account of transference and countertransference phenomena during termination; a report on the analysis of a young woman who experienced both chronic and stress-related trauma; and an account of the special issues involved in the treatment of an aging woman. Most of the case studies reflect the influence of Dr. Sanville, whose work has long evinced the therapeutic imagination and disciplined creativity to which all the contributors aspire. Tthe contributors to this volume offer the salutary reminder that analytic work is built on a relationship of respect and empathy and that treatment success follows from the therapist's willingness to accommodate the unique needs of individual patients. In honoring Jean Sanville, The Social Work Psychoanalyst's Casebook speaks to the robustness of a multidisciplinary approach to psychopathology that transcends the bounds of any single profession-an approach in which contemporary psychoanalysis is enlarged by the insights and emphases of social work just as social work is enriched by the clinical wisdom of psychoanalysis.